PICTURE: Captured Soviet 45 PstK/32 antitank gun. (Photo taken in Panssarimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (36 KB).

PICTURE: Captured Soviet 45 PstK/37 antitank gun. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (39 KB).

PICTURE: Captured Soviet 45 PstK/38 antitank gun. The guns limber is partly visible behind. (Photo taken in Jalkaväkimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (52 KB).

PICTURE: Captured Soviet 45 PstK/38-41 antitank gun. (Photo taken in Panssarimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (24 KB).

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	60 mm

- "Guns vs Armour website" by D.M. Honner (B-250 and BR-240 APHE, 760 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	90 degrees	52 mm
500 m	90 degrees	43 mm
1000 m	90 degrees	35 mm
1500 m	90 degrees	28 mm
2000 m	90 degrees	23 mm
100 m	60 degrees	43 mm
500 m	60 degrees	35 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	28 mm
1500 m	60 degrees	23 mm
2000 m	60 degrees	19 mm

- "Artillery of World War Two":

distance	hitting angle	penetration
915 m	60 degrees	38 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	47 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	53 mm
1000 m	90 degrees	40 mm
1500 m	90 degrees	30 mm
500 m	60 degrees	44 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	33 mm
1500 m	60 degrees	25 mm
500 m	30 degrees	16 mm
1000 m	30 degrees	12 mm
1500 m	30 degrees	9 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	70 degrees	57 mm
200 m	70 degrees	55 mm
300 m	70 degrees	53 mm
400 m	70 degrees	52 mm
500 m	70 degrees	50 mm
600 m	70 degrees	48 mm
800 m	70 degrees	45 mm
1000 m	70 degrees	42 mm
1500 m	70 degrees	35 mm
2000 m	70 degrees	28 mm
2500 m	70 degrees	22 mm

The Soviets had realised that they needed at-guns already in late 1920's and first bought 37-mm at-guns from German firm Rheinmetall, but soon they also started developing their own versions. Soviet 45-mm at-gun m/32 was basically an enlarged version of early German 37-mm at-gun, with wooden wheels and all. Largest differences (other the calibre and larger size) were in sights and production methods.

Only few years later the wooden wheels were replaced with rubber wheels, which had spokes and were more suitable for faster towing speeds (read: motorised towing). Also the structure of towing system proved to have problems in high towing speeds, so it was modified, guns with this improvement were named as m/37. Modification of towing system was not totally successful, so further improvements were made and they resulted intoroding m/38. One important technical difference for these guns was also in semi-automatic (after firing a shot it removed used cartidge case was remained open for the next round) breech system used in these guns: In m/32 the semiautomatic-mechanism worked only with APHE-ammunition, which meant reduced rate-of-fire with other ammunition types (such as HE). All versions starting from m/37 had improved semi-automatic mechanism, which worked also with other ammunition types. Later more easily produced version called m/38-41 was introduced. Reason to separate these guns to different types was the spare-parts maintenance, different gun types demanded spare parts which were not interchangeable. During WW2 the Soviets introduced first emergency version (it had very much improvised gun platform) that the Finns called m/41 and later more normal but longer barrel version m/42.

Reasons behind these new at-gun models were also fairly obvious, emergency version was made in hurried times of 1941 when the Soviets needed any weapons that could be produced fast. Later m/42 with its longer barrel was an effort of trying to get more muzzle velocity and therefore better armour penetration capability. When introduced in early 1930's Soviet 45-mm at-gun was excellent weapon, at that time its AP shell had enough power to punch through both walls of typical tanks of that time. Year 1939 it still was more effective then most at-guns of that time and was powerful enough to be threat to all tanks. Fast progress of tanks during WW2 left it behind, new medium and heavy tanks proved difficult or impossible for it to kill and by end of WW2 it had become quite outdated. All Soviet 45-mm at-guns were suitable both to motorized towing and being towed with horses. Two horses and a limber were needed for horse-towing the gun.

PICTURE: Another photo of 45 PstK/37 antitank gun. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (54 KB).

Finnish troops captured some 125 Soviet 45-mm at-guns during Winter War. As the Finns had serious shortage of at-guns and captured guns were they were shortly pressed to Finnish use. Finnish soldiers compared the 45-mm Soviet at-guns to 37-mm Bofors guns and considered them to be somewhat roughly made but effective. Antitank training centre started soon training crews for them and the Finns lost couple of these guns in combat already during this first war. 93 of 45-mm at-guns captured in Winter War remained in Finnish use in June of 1940 and M/32 was the most numerous model. During first three months of Continuation War Finnish troops captured much more Soviet 45-mm at-guns - almost 400 more. During the trench war period (Dec 1941 - June 1944) the number of these guns in Finnish use peaked to some 670. Battles of summer 1944 were very costly to 45-mm at-guns and the Finns lost dozens of them, but in last battles they were again captured in large numbers.

At 1948 still 475 guns of these types existed:

PICTURE: Closer look to systems of 45 PstK/37 antitank gun. Comparing to German 37 PstK/37 easily reveals the close relation, but also change in breech system. While German at-gun used horizontal sliding breech block the Soviet 45-mm at-guns had vertical sliding breech block. Notice also captured Soviet optical sight. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (68 KB).

Finnish Army ammunition ammunition manuals list following ammunition for captured 45-mm at-guns:

About half of the ammunition used by the Finns with these guns was captured, while the other half was Finnish made. Finnish production for APHE-tracer ammunition started in VTT (Valtion Tykkitehdas = State Artillery factory) in late 1940 and production of HE ammunition started in 1942. Finnish wartime production for these guns totalled almost 112,000 AP-tracer shells and over 358,000 HE-shells. In addition 15,000 HE-shells and 15,000 APHE-shells were bought from Germany in 1944. Soviet ammunition inventory for these guns included also APCR shells, but captured APCR ammunition is not listed in Finnish ammunition manuals. So it is quite possible that none or only very small number was captured. Anyway Soviet production of APCR-ammunition for these guns doesn't seem to have started until year 1942, at which point the Finnish attack had stopped and capturing large amount of Soviet equipment had become rare. Finnish troops captured only two long-barrel M/42 antitank guns. They were both captured in summer of 1944 (first one in Kuuterselkä battle in mid-June of 1944) and Finnish military never used them..

Sights that Finnish military used with captured 45-mm Soviet antitank guns fell into three categories:

Losses of captured 45-mm Soviet antitank-guns during period 9^th of June - 7^th of July 1944:

After WW2 the guns remained warehoused. They remained in antitank use with Finnish military until year 1960. Finnish coastal defence troops had used these guns already during Continuation War and after WW2 coastal defence got more and more of them as recoilless rifles replaced them in antitank use. In their coastal role they remained in Finnish use until late 1980's or so and also special fixed mount was introduced for this use. Since early 1990's these guns have been sold to museums and collectors little by little.

(*) 47 mm x 185 R used with 47 PstK/35 and 47 mm x 195 R used with 47 PstK/39.

Armour penetration:

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	44 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	90 degrees	56 mm
500 m	90 degrees	43 mm
1000 m	90 degrees	31 mm
1500 m	90 degrees	23 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	40 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
1000 m	90 degrees	30 mm

Both of these guns were versions of infantry/antitank gun manufactured by Austrian company Böhler starting from mid 1930's. From these two gun types Austrian M/35 was the original version while, while M/39 was improved Italian version which was more focused to antitank use. Other countries that bought Böhler guns or its production license included Romania, Lithuania and Estonia. 47-mm Böhler guns were sold as infantry guns, but they were suitable to be used as antitank- guns, which was somewhat unusual. Their structure was also somewhat unique: Wheels of the gun could be removed and front part of gun put on top of a plate-like foot, this gave carriage a three point stand that was both stable and low, making spotting and hitting the gun more difficult for the enemy. Guns structure also allowed it to be dismantled to parts light enough to be carried by men, mules or horses like a mountain gun. However, its special features didn't amend the fact that its ballistics against armour were not particularly good and lacking gun shield left crew without the small (mostly psychological) shelter that it would have offered.

Finland bought these guns from Switzerland and Italy during Winter War, but in both cases the guns arrived only during Interim Peace. More details of those deals:

The visible differences between the two gun-types were:

As noted the guns didn't use same ammunition even if they were ballistically quite close to each other. Also production methods used making them had differences, which made spareparts of these two guns non-compatible with each other.

During early Continuation War troops of Finnish 2^nd Army Corps used these guns shortly. Soon they were removed from frontline use and reissued to coastal defence troops of Lake Ladoga. In spring of 1942 they were transferred to Finnish Navy and remained in there until end of WW2. After that they remained warehoused until being sold to Interarms and shipped abroad in 1960.

PICTURE: 50 PstK/38 antitank gun with lower part of shield opened up. (Photo taken in Panssarimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (50 KB).

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	60 degrees	60 mm

Pzgr.38 APHE-T round (823 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
0 m	90 degrees	99 mm
250 m	90 degrees	88 mm
500 m	90 degrees	78 mm
750 m	90 degrees	69 mm
1000m	90 degrees	61 mm
1200 m	90 degrees	53 mm
1500 m	90 degrees	47 mm
0 m	60 degrees	73 mm
250 m	60 degrees	67 mm
500 m	60 degrees	61 mm
750 m	60 degrees	56 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	50 mm
1200 m	60 degrees	45 mm
1500 m	60 degrees	40 mm

Pzgr.40 APCR round (tungsten core, 1198 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
0 m	90 degrees	165 mm
250 m	90 degrees	141 mm
500 m	90 degrees	120 mm
750 m	90 degrees	101 mm
1000 m	90 degrees	84 mm
1250 m	90 degrees	70 mm
0 m	60 degrees	143 mm
250 m	60 degrees	109 mm
500 m	60 degrees	86 mm
750 m	60 degrees	69 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	55 mm
1250 m	60 degrees	44 mm

Pzgr.38 APHE-T round (835 m/sec / 823 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	60 degrees	69 mm
500 m	90 degrees	75 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	48 mm

Pzgr.40 APCR round (tungsten core, 1180 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	60 degrees	130 mm
500 m	90 degrees	115 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	38 mm

- "Twentieth Century Artillery":

Pzgr.38 APHE-T round (823 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	78 mm

Pzgr.40 APCR round (1198 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
500 m	90 degrees	120 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	70 degrees	57 mm
200 m	70 degrees	55 mm
300 m	70 degrees	53 mm
400 m	70 degrees	52 mm
500 m	70 degrees	50 mm
600 m	70 degrees	48 mm
800 m	70 degrees	45 mm
1000 m	70 degrees	42 mm
1500 m	70 degrees	35 mm
2000 m	70 degrees	28 mm
2500 m	70 degrees	22 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	70 degrees	95 mm
200 m	70 degrees	80 mm
300 m	70 degrees	70 mm
400 m	70 degrees	60 mm
500 m	70 degrees	50 mm
600 m	70 degrees	40 mm
800 m	70 degrees	25 mm
1000 m	70 degrees	15 mm
1500 m	70 degrees	10 mm
2000 m	70 degrees	-
2500 m	70 degrees	-

PICTURE: 50 PstK/38 antitank gun with lower part of gun shield folded up. (Photo taken in Panssarimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (47 KB).

The Germans started having doubts about effectiveness of 3,7 cm Pak already during Spanish Civil War, so Rheinmetall started development of new 5-cm antitank gun in 1938. It took until late 1940 from them to start issuing new 5 cm Pak to their troops and even then production was quite slow early on (still in 1^st of June 1941 German troops located to east had only 107 guns of this type). 5-cm Pak proved a success, with new tungsten-cored Pzgr. 40 ammunition it was able to take out all Allied medium tanks such as T-34/76 and M4 Sherman. However, the shortage of tungsten needed for production of Pzgr.40 projectiles and ever thickening armour in tanks finally were too much for it also, so production of these guns was ended in 1943, by that time over 9,500 had been made.

Finland bought 27 antitank guns of this type in two deliveries:

Also Finnish military became aware of need acquiring more effective antitank-guns after facing number of T-34 and KV-1 tanks in battles of year of 1941. So Finland bought 27 of these antitank-guns from Germany in year 1942. Guns of the first delivery were issued to Finnish troops in August of 1942. They were basically distributed to all main directions of Finnish front, as first delivery was issued to antitank gun companies of Groups of Maaselkä and Aunus while 12 guns from second shipment were given to Isthmus Group and Armour Division. Each of these got enough (6 guns) PstK/38 to arm one antitank company.

PICTURE: 50 PstK/38 antitank gun in field fortified position. Note semi-automatic breech system with horizontal sliding breech block (Photo taken in Panssarimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (54 KB).

Units with 50 PstK/38 antitank guns in 1^st of May 1944:

German 50-mm at-gun worked well in Finnish hands and short shooting distances Finnish terrain typically offered reduced the problems with most heavily armoured tanks. When delivered it was the most powerful and only antitank gun in Finnish use capable of reliably destroying T-34 tanks, so in late June of 1944 the Finns still expressed to be willing to get these guns delivered instead of heavier 75-mm antitank guns. However, reading battle reports makes clear that killing T-34/85 tanks with was not exactly easy with 50-mm gun, it practically always demanded a position in side of the tanks and close range to succeed. PstK/38 was the first antitank gun in Finnish inventory that was too heavy for few men to effectively push it around, in situations in which gun positions were about to be overrun by Soviet infantry this made taking the gun with the retreating crew quite problematic. So when compared to small number of these guns in use of Finnish Army to begin with the number lost in battle during summer of 1944 was very high and only 15 guns survived the war. The small number of surviving guns may have been a factor for these guns being removed from antitank-weaponry in use of Finnish military already that same year. After WW2 they were warehoused until being declared obsolete in 1986. In late 1980's three guns were sold to collectors and the rest given to museums.

Losses of 50 PstK/38 antitank-guns during period 9^th of June - 7^th of July 1944:

Finnish ammunition manuals list following ammunition for 50 PstK/38 in Finnish use:

PICTURE: 75 PstK/97-38 antitank gun. This gun has been raised from the ground for better storaging. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (59 KB).

AP round (570 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	60 degrees	61 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	58 mm

HEAT round (450 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
any	60 degrees	90 mm

- "Marskin Panssarintuhoojat, page 378":

AP round (590 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
300 m	90 degrees	92 mm

HEAT round:

distance	hitting angle	penetration
any	90 degrees	93 mm

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	70 degrees	85 mm
200 m	70 degrees	85 mm
300 m	70 degrees	80 mm
400 m	70 degrees	80 mm
500 m	70 degrees	80 mm
600 m	70 degrees	75 mm
800 m	70 degrees	75 mm
1000 m	70 degrees	70 mm
1500 m	70 degrees	60 mm
2000 m	70 degrees	50 mm
2500 m	70 degrees	45 mm

PICTURE: 75 PstK/97-38 antitank gun ready for transport. German 50-mm and 75-mm antitank guns all had basically the same system with third wheel for towing. Notice the wheel and folded up lower part of gun shield. (Photo taken in Panssarimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (27 KB).

After running to new Allied medium and heavy tanks (such as Soviet T-34 and KV-1) Germans found out that they needed antitank guns larger then 50 mm Pak. As a stop gap solution this 75-mm antitank gun was introduced. It basically combined gun barrel of French 75-mm model 1897 field gun equipped with muzzle-break to carriage of German 5.0 cm Pak 38. Ammunition used typically included captured French HE-rounds, captured Polish AP-rounds and German made HEAT-rounds, however using AP-rounds was not favoured and HEAT was the main ammunition type in antitank use with German troops. Reason for that was quite simple: Gun was quite unstable and recoil with AP-rounds was so fearsome that Germans nicknamed this gun type as "Mustang". The Gun was introduced to German troops in November of 1941 and in years 1941 - 1942 some 700 guns of this type were manufactured. According some sources the total production totalled about 3700 guns. 7.5 cm Pak 97/38 as Germans called it was far from perfect, but it worked and was cheap to produce (cost and need of work were about two thirds of what was needed with 7.5 cm Pak 40).

PICTURE: Closer look behind gun shield of 75 PstK/97-38 antitank gun. Note Nordenfelt screw breech as in original French m 1897 field gun. Gun sight missing as usual. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (57 KB).

Finland had bought 48 French 75-mm field guns model 1897 (called "75 K 97" in Finland) and 50,000 shells from France in 1940. Barrels of the bought guns were in terribly wear down condition and dispersion in arch fire was unacceptably large. Year 1942 all 75 K 97 field guns were gathered away from fortification artillery batteries that had used them. By February of 1943 the Finns had decided to check if the Germans were willing to build them 7,5 cm Pak 97/38 antitank-guns from 60 gun barrels of 75 K 97 that the Finns had. An agreement was achieved and the Germans manufactured 46 antitank guns for the Finns by using delivered gun barrels.

Deliveries of these guns arrived:

Finnish soldiers quickly nicknamed these guns "Mulatti" (Mulato) after the combined structure from two guns of two different countries. Compared to other Finnish at-guns these were very good so they were issued to units located all over the frontline and saw had battles in frontline. In battles of summer of 1944 seven guns of this type were lost. Four of the lost guns belonged to 4th Army Corps (in Carelian Isthmus) and two belonged to Aunus Group (in northern shore of Lake Ladoga). After WW2 the remaining 39 guns remained in antitank-weapons inventory of Finnish Army until year 1986. They were also declared obsolete the same year.

Finnish manuals list two AP-shells for this gun: "75 pspkrv 59/66-ps" was old French M/1910 APHE-projectile loaded to 75 mm x 338R cartridge case while "75 psa - Vj4" had new AP projectile with 4 second tracer. However firing of "75 psa - Vj4" was recommended in extreme emergency only - gun carriage of 75 PstK/97-38 was not strong enough to endure lot of shooting with this ammunition. The recommended antitank ammunion were HEAT-shells. In Finland this meant ammunition with "75 hkr 42-18/24-38" (German 7.5 cm Gr. 38 Hl/B) warheads capable achieving about 75-mm penetration from 60-degree point of impact.

PICTURE: 75 PstK/40 antitank gun. (Photo taken in yard of Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (48 KB).